REASONS TO WATCH COLLEGE FOOTBALL.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

The No. 1 reason to watch college football this season is all of the double-threat quarterbacks out there, seemingly more young men than ever with magic in their arms and legs, able to defy defenses and binocular-holders and the sport's over-specialization.

(Did I say the No. 1 reason to watch college football? I forgot my Los Angeles perspective for a moment there. I mean the No. 1 reason other than USC's bid for an unprecedented three national championships in a row, or 2 1/2 in a row, to be precise.)

From Texas' Vince Young, to Ohio State's Troy Smith, to Virginia Tech's Marcus Vick, to Texas A&M's Reggie McNeal, to Oregon's Kellen Clemens, the run-and-gun quarterbacks are going to have hands and feet in deciding the national title.

(Not that USC's Matt Leinart's one dimension won't have the most to say about the national title.)

The No. 2 reason to watch college football this season is the Southeastern Conference, home of six of the top 25 teams in the first rankings of the year after having five in the final polls of last season.

Tennessee's Phil Fulmer is going to have to hold off new coaches at Florida (Urban Meyer), LSU (Les Miles) and South Carolina (Steve Spurrier).

(Meanwhile, USC's Pete Carroll is still out front and holding off every coach in every conference in the land.)

The No. 3 reason to watch college football this season is Spurrier himself, back in college football and salty as ever.

On TV recently, Spurrier vowed that since people seem to take it the wrong way when he makes fun of opponents, he's going to restrict his comments to ``coachspeak'' from now on.

I give it until, let's see, approximately, all things being equal, this week, when South Carolina opens with a game against Central Florida.

(Although you may find the most interesting coaching changes in college football are the changes on Carroll's staff, where there's pressure on the replacements for offensive coordinator Norm Chow, now with the Tennessee Titans, and defensive assistant Ed Orgeron, now head coach at Ole Miss.)

The No. 4 reason to watch college football this season is the UCLA linebackers corps, the best in the Pac-10, according to The Sporting News, led by seniors Spencer Havner and Justin London.

(USC will have to scrape by with the conference's best backfield, wide receivers, offensive line, defensive line, defensive backs and special teams, according to The Sporting News.)

The No. 5 reason to watch college football this season is the fight over American Indian nicknames, a battle that seems likely to go on and on.

Heavy-handedly, the NCAA is trying to do the right thing, convince universities that claim to ``honor'' American Indians that nicknames and mascots connoting the same primitive ferocity as Wolf Packs, Wildcats, Cougars, Gators and Hurricanes is a strange way to honor human beings.

(``Trojans'' is OK for now.)

The No. 6 reason to watch college football this year is UTEP, where Mike Price, quarterback Jordan Palmer and one of the country's best groups of receivers plan to continue last year's improvement.

Good to see Price on the verge of a return to the big time after the former Washington State coach stumbled a few years ago over college sports' new belief that coaches must be paragons of virtue on the level of priests (in fact, higher).

(Jordan Palmer's older brother Carson also bears a little watching with the Cincinnati Bengals after his late-2004 wakeup.)

The No. 7 reason to watch college football this year is that it isn't pro football.

The amateurs have their problems, but they don't have anybody quite like Terrell Owens.

(Among other things that might make the colleges more attractive than the pros for Pete Carroll.)

The No. 8 reason to watch college football this season is the new Harris Poll, which replaces the Associated Press poll in the Bowl Championship Series soup with a strange panel of former players, coaches and media members.

Here's a Harris Poll panel that would be just as effective: Emmylou Harris, Julie Richard Harris, Neil Patrick Harris, Katherine Harris, Harris Barton, a Harris Ranch steak, a Harris tweed sportcoat, Prince Harry, Deborah Harry, Harrah's Casino and Sean Connery, the hairiest James Bond.

(Anybody who doesn't start the season with USC No. 1 is off the list immediately.)

The No. 9 reason to watch college football this season is the early game of the year, Texas at Ohio State on Sept. 10, the preseason poll's No. 2 team vs. its No. 9 team, Longhorns Heisman Trophy candidate Vince Young vs. Buckeyes Heisman hopeful Ted Ginn Jr.

(Consider it a warmup for USC at Oregon on Sept. 24 in a dangerous game for the Trojans.)

And the No. 10 reason to watch college football this season is that the BCS national-championship game comes back to the Rose Bowl on Jan. 4, 2006.

What better setting for the biggest game of the year?

(Especially if USC is playing.)

CAPTION(S):

photo, 2 boxes

Photo:

no caption (Pete Carroll)

Box:

(1) Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS

- Scott Wolf

(2) SETTING THE STANDARD